JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 24, 2018
By Jack Suntrup and Nassim Benchaabane
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said Thursday that he would launch an investigation into sex crimes within the Roman Catholic Church, adding that the Archdiocese of St. Louis had offered to open its files to his office.
At a news conference shortly after Hawley’s announcement, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson promised Hawley’s office would have “unfettered” access to archdiocese records.
“Anything that we have we will turn over,” Carlson said.
Hawley’s announcement came after survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their advocates protested outside his St. Louis office on Wednesday demanding that he launch a statewide investigation. It also came a week after the release of grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that uncovered the widespread abuse of more than 1,000 children by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years.
Hawley, a Republican who is running for U.S. Senate this year, said on Thursday that while prosecuting and subpoena authority rested with local law enforcement, his office would still investigate alleged crimes, publish a public report and refer credible cases to local prosecutors.
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